Vezelay - Beaune

Wednesday 16th September

Vezelay – Beaune

We had a leisurely start to the day, with breakfast in the Salle a Petit Dejeuner. There was a lovely view overlooking the vineyards in the valley below, and industrious workers beginning to pick the grapes. Idyllic. We headed off to the Basilica before we left, as Michael and Karol had said that they had seen Mary Magdalene’s relics, and Karol did not have a photo as she respected the reverence of the place. So, when Dick and I went into the crypt to see the relics, we had to try and get passed a whole lot of very pushy senior cits, who were madly taken millions of photos, and NOT respecting the reverence of the place. Not impressed by that older generation of tourists at all.

Back into the car, set Madame (Sat Nav) and off we headed to Autun. Autun calls itself the oldest continuous city in France. Another picturesque town, with chateau, fortress, a magnificent 11th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Lazarus – probably with remains in situ, but certainly with relics (not on display) – and a Roman Theatre. We stopped and wandered around the town, paid 0.30 euro each for the WC and had a lunch. Baguettes, of course, but no fromage, instead, a Pate de Lapin, Jambon (ham) in herbed aspic and a ham terrine, bought from a little market in Vezelay. Beautiful. We stopped at the Roman Theatre and tested the acoustics. Very good! Next to the amphitheatre was a house made of stones that were identical to those that made up the tiers in the theatre, and it also had several statues – Roman and later, embedded in the walls. Someone was very enterprising and saved themselves a lot of francs, when they built their house!

We drove on to Beaune, which is in the heart of the Burgundy region, the red wine capital of the world. There are hectares and hectares of vines in every direction. It appears we are here at the start of the picking season and the caves and chateau look very inviting.
We are all looking forward to our degustation of local produce and wine! Our gourmet tour of France continues!